Using Pathfinder Online to
Discover QSL Info
Pathfinder Online lets you type a callsign once and search
more than 80 different sites for QSL information with a few mouse clicks. To use Pathfinder Online, simply type a callsign
into the Target Callsign box above and then click on one of the search
buttons above; the results of
this search will be displayed in the frame below the horizontal divider.
If the search fails to
yield a QSL route, click on another search button. To view these instructions
again, click the Help button on the
left.
The
country-specific callbook search button, labeled CBA,
is special. When the Target Callsign box is empty, the box to the right
of the CBA
button will display a ?,
and clicking the CBA button
will have no effect. As
you type a callsign into the Target Callsign box, Pathfinder Online will
identify the callsign's DXCC entity. If a country-specific callbook is available
for the callsign's DXCC entity, the box to the right of the CBA button
will display the callsign's country's DXCC prefix. If you type OH2BH
into the Target Callsign box, for example, the box to the right of the CBA button
will display OH
; if you then click the CBA button,
Pathfinder Online will search the Finnish online callbook and display Martti's
address.
Pathfinder Online provides access to the following 76
country-specific callbooks:
3A, 4S, 4X, 5Z, 9A, 9M2, 9M6, A9, BV, BY, C3,
CE, CE9, CX, DL, DU, E7, EI, EP, ER, ES, EW, EY, F, FR, GU, HC, HL, HS, I, J7, JT,
K, LA, LX, LY, LZ, OA, OD, OE, OH, OL, OM, ON, OZ, P2, P4, PY, R1F, R1M, S2, S5,
S7, SM, SP, SU, SV, SV9, T7, TA, TF, TR, UA, UA0, UA2, VE, VK, VP9, VU, YB, YL, YN,
YO, Z3, ZL, and ZS.
Some of these are automatically searched for the
Target Callsign (like the Finnish callbook), some will display an entry
with a hyperlink you must follow to get an address (e.g. the Australian
callbook), and others
are lists of callsigns that you must manually peruse (like the Bangladeshi
callbook).
The DXS 2008
button searches for DX spots of the specified Target Callsign posted
this year to the DX Summit web cluster; these spots often include QSL routes.
You can use the DXS
button to search for spots in previous years -- from 2007 back to 1997; first
set the year selector as desired, and then click the DXS
button.
Striking the Enter key in the Target Callsign box
will invoke the most recent search on the callsign in the Target Callsign box.
To replace the contents of the Target Callsign box
with a new callsign, click in the Target Callsign box, strike CTRL-A,
and then begin typing the new callsign. To clear the Target Callsign box,
click
the X button to its right.
To zoom in on the results, click in the results frame and
strike CTRL +; to zoom out, strike CTRL -. If you have a wheeled
mouse, depress the CTRL key while rotating the mouse wheel to set the
desired zoom level.
Pathfinder Online is derived from
the more powerful and customizable Pathfinder,
a member of the DXLab
Suite of free,
automatically interoperating DXing software:
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- Propagation
prediction (graphical view of openings by frequency and time
from the VOACAP, ICEPAC, or IONCAP engines)
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- Rotator control
(AlfaSpid, ARSWIN,
Heath, Hygain, LP-Rotor, M2, N1MM, Prosistel, SARtek, TIC,
Trackbox, Yaesu)
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- Logging
(can be optimized for real-time logging, or for recording QSOs
from paper logs)
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- Award tracking
and submission (DXCC, Challenge,
WAS, WAC, VUCC, TOP, WAZ, WPX, Marathon, USA-CA, IOTA, DARC WAE
& DOKs, RDA, JARL JCC & JCG, WAB)
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